Citizens in 18 European cities took to the streets to show their support for Pirin NP. 11.01.2018

On January 11, 2018, Bulgaria officially took up the presidency of the Council of the European Union. On the same day citizens of 18 European cities took to the streets to show their support for Pirin National Park.
Thousands of Bulgarians gathered in downtown Sofia to protest further construction of ski infrastructure in Pirin National Park. Here is what some of protestors said:
“I’m here because I want a preserved nature, and a preserved national park - Pirin.”
“We protest against the decision of the Bulgarian Council of Ministers for changes in the management plan of Pirin National Park, which allow construction on 48% of its area.”
“I visited Pirin Mountain for the first time when I was a student. I’ve taken part in trailblazing actions and trail reconstruction there. I am against the attempts to ruin the mountain with overbuilding and to turn it into a money-making machine by a chosen few.”
“I want Bulgaria to have a little bit of preserved nature, because most of it has been destroyed and most nice spots have been or will be overbuilt.”
“The second lift line is just a screen for other, much bigger plans for the area. Plans to ruin about half of Pirin National Park.”
“Today we demonstrate for abiding by the law and against the mafia’s corruption practices on one hand, and for the preservation of Bulgarian nature on the other. We urge the government to show at least some moral and aesthetic decency.”
“We want to live in a country ruled by the law, and not by the mafia’s interests and by the interests of corrupted politicians. We want to live in a Bulgaria of the 21st century, not in a Bulgaria from the 20th or the 19th century.”
“What motivates me? In the past 10 years I’ve spent several hundred days in Pirin Mountain and I feel it’s my second home. I don’t want it to be turned into a pigsty.”
“Pirin is a unique mountain. We cannot let people destroy it!”
Demonstrators chanted “Save Pirin”, “Mafia”, “We want nature, not concrete” and “You are a disgrace, resign and go to jail!” as they marched, and carried placards saying “Nature can satisfy man's needs, but not man's greed”, “Noonе pays me to preserve nature, but someone pays you to destroy it”, “Citizens against mafia”, “How do you plant 300 years old trees?”, “Hands off Pirin”, “I love skiing”, “You can't sell what's priceless!”, “Corrupt We Stand Strong”, “Bulgaria, wake up and fight corruption! Europe doesn't care”, “Visible results: justice, security, education, science, health services, environment”, “Green - the colour of nature, not money!”, “Bulgarian Government serves the Mafia! Save Pirin!” and “I want Pirin intact”. They also called for the resignation of Neno Dimov, Bulgaria’s environment minister.
There were a number of protests in support of Pirin NP during the day in other European cities such as London, Brussels, Plovdiv, Varna, Bugras, Ruse etc.
The Pirin Mountains were added to the list of Unesco World Heritage Sites in 1983, and the site now covers Pirin National Park apart from the areas developed for winter-sports tourism.
The area comprises diverse marble and granite mountain landscapes with glacial lakes, waterfalls, caves and old coniferous forests.
Footage: Simeon Tsonchev, Mono Collective
Subtitles: Alexander ‘Sancho’ Marinov
Photos: Nadia Tosheva (London), Robbie Blake (Brussels), Momentum (Sofia), Pod Tepeto (Plovdiv), Kaloyan Stoyanov (Varna), Kremena Vateva (Burgas), Ema Ivanova (Ruse), Joro Hadjiev (Stara Zagora), Panayot Yordanov (Pleven), Stanimir Petkov (Sliven), Svetlana Venelinova (Shumen), Stefan Avramov (Haskovo), Vladimir Milushev (Blagoevgrad), Petia Karpuzova (Pazardzhik), Mariana Flores (Veliko Tarnovo), BFB (Gabrovo), Maria Armeikova (Kazanlak), Dimitar Spasov (Svishtov)
Copyright: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)